Interview with Andy Freeberg

Andy Freeberg's self-referential 'Sentries' project takes a comical look at human disconnect in seemingly intimate circumstances. Chelsea galleristas are pictured as buried bobble heads, indistinguishable from the potted plants and catalogs lining the gallery's front desk. Before Freeberg showed 'Sentries' at Danziger Projects in Chelsea in the fall of 2007, his slideshow entertained the audience at SLPS San Francisco in August of 2007, and again at Slideluck Potshow X at Sandbox Studios in NYC in November. Freeberg's most recent project is a return to the gallery space. This time the ambassadors don't hide from the audience, they proudly join the display, well equipped with orthopedic shoes and cardigans. Freeberg's Guardians series will be shown at SLPS San Francisco II and SLPS Portland III later this spring.

I spoke with Andy about his Sentry series and most recent Guardians piece, which will run at The Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon from March 5th to the 29th.

Did you expect the images from Sentry to resonate so much with the photographic community? Do you think the dissemination in the blogosphere helped make your work successful?

I didn't really know what to expect with the Sentry photos. I sat on them for about six months after I had edited and printed a set. I brought them to NYC to show to a few galleries, and I put up a new website that I only showed to galleries I was trying to meet with. The website somehow got passed to the Conscientious blog and he posted it about a week after I got back home to California from NYC. The next day James Danziger [Owner of Danziger Projects] contacted me, saying he saw them on the blog. A few days later he offered me a show. It all happened pretty quickly once the pictures got out there.

At first glance, most people would assume that Sentry is a project documenting the iciness of the Chelsea gallery world. You stated that you thought the project was "a metaphor about how humans aren't connecting" and not necessarily about the galleries. Why did you choose Chelsea to get this message across? And in what ways are we disconnecting?

I was born in New York and started my photo career there, but now I live in California and don't walk around cities on a regular basis. What I notice now when I visit New York, starting about 10 years ago, is that almost everyone is on a cell phone, including myself. We don't look at each other much anymore. That used to be my favorite part about walking the streets-- watching people, making that quick eye contact. It's definitely a different experience now. So, when I went into that first gallery on a Tuesday or Wednesday it was just me and the top of that head behind a very large desk in a very large room. It was quiet, I took a picture, checked the focus, took another, and the woman never even looked up and noticed me. I thought it was strange, but it made me laugh. I went into a couple of more galleries that day and had the same experience. I realized that the person behind the desk was looking at a computer screen. The person was connected to the rest of the world through the machine, but wasn't noticing the person right in front of them. I think this disconnect is something that is happening everywhere and not just in Chelsea art galleries. When I showed the photos to a picture editor friend later that week, he said, “it's a show …you have to do this, the galleries love talking about themselves."

Your works have been called "funny". Do you think Sentry is humorous?

Yes, I think it's a funny set of pictures. l laughed after taking almost every photo. When I show them, people usually start laughing when they get to the second one. Most of the "heads" in the photos think they're funny too. Although I did get an email from one of the gallery sitters who is in one of the photos and was upset. He thought the photos were mean spirited and that they showed a lack of engagement with the subject matter. But the guy in the Metro Pictures photo came to the opening and he said he really liked it.

Your newest project, Guardians, also deals with the interaction between humans and art institutions. Why do you think this relationship is worth documenting?

I didn't set out to do another series on art institutions. I actually went to Russia last year with the idea that I was going to do some sort of “before and after” project. I had a nice set of black and white photos that I had taken in St. Petersburg in the 1980's and I thought it might be interesting to revisit some of those spots, since Russia has changed economically and politically in such a dramatic way. The idea wasn't coming together too easily so I went to look at the art at the Hermitage, which is one of the greatest museums in the world. I went back a couple of days later with my camera and then I saw the ladies. They were the Sentries of the Hermitage.

Some of your juxtapositions within Guardians are utterly perfect. Did you stylize the images, or are all of the images organic?

The first photos at the Hermitage were completely candid. On subsequent trips I got permission to be in the museums (gaining access was the most difficult part of the project), and I was sometimes able to ask the women to move to another chair if I thought a better combination would work. Though most of the photos originated just as you see them.

'Guardians' implies more of a regal status than calling the project 'Guards'. Why did you choose to elevate your subjects?

I think these women are really beautiful. At first they seemed bored, a little severe, and uninterested in their jobs. Most of them don't speak any English and I don't speak Russian so I could only imagine what they were about. When I returned with a translator and we spoke with them, I found out that most of them love their jobs. They know a lot about the art, and many of them are retired professionals. We met scientists, historians, a retired dentist. One woman travels three hours each way to work because, rather than sit on her porch "complaining about my illnesses like most old people do," she would rather be at the museum sitting with the history of her country and people watching. Another said she sometimes comes to the museum on her day off to sit in front of a painting that reminds her of her childhood home.

Guardians and Sentry are drastically different than many of your other assignments-- stylistically and content wise. Was the transition away from what you traditionally shot a challenge?

Shooting these projects was really a pleasure. My assignment work prepared me technically and logistically to make this happen. Sometimes I had to work very quickly and make creative choices on the fly so my editorial and commercial experience helped a lot. It's really a wonderful change to make your own assignments and be the editor too. The best part of shooting the Guardians photos was being in front of so many stunning pieces of art. It was like being a curator of the Russian museums’ collections.

What are your plans for future projects? Do you plan on expanding Sentry or Guardians?

I just returned from Russia last week, where I completed shooting for the Guardians book that Critical Mass/ Photo Lucida will publish, so I haven't planned any other projects yet. I have some things on my list though, and I might want to do one more art related series.

Andy's Guardians will also appear in the 8x10 group show in New York at the Hearst Building galleries, opening March 30 through September 1.
Sentry and Guardians will also appear in a show opening at the Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle called "Sitting with Art", starting May 1st.